I do not wish to use Google’s Messages anymore. I’ve come across QKSMS, but I feel like I’m losing some features with their premium service. I’ve tried looking for the default AOSP app, but they’re not available anywhere on GitHub, which makes it really hard to update periodically via Obtanium. I’d love to see apps similar to “Material Files” by zhanghai - which is almost similar to the AOSP File manager. I was also considering Signal, but I don’t appreciate the fact that I’m supposed to provide a phone number.
Ps. I’d also appreciate contacts and dialer alternatives.
Try Simple Mobile Tools. I’ve had mixed experiences with them. Some were great and others were a little too simple for my use cases. But I’ve mostly heard good things.
ETA: They’re available on F-droid and can be updated with Obtainium.
I quite like Simple SMS messenger. It does what it says on the tin.
And open source…
Yes, yes it is :)
Simple SMS is what I use, I use almost their whole suite of apps. The ones on the Play Store are limited, but the ones they put on F-Droid are full-featured (It’s an open source app suite, but the play store versions are that freemium donation style kinda thing).
Here’s the link to their whole app suite on F-Droid, has all the essentials like file manager, camera, dialer, calendar, contacts, calculator, etc. The “Simple Thank You” app (also on F-droid) works as a theme manager for all the app suite, so you can set a theme you like and then pick “shared” as the theme in all the other apps https://search.f-droid.org/?q=simplemobiletools&lang=en
Most importantly, they actually seem to get updates unlike a lot of these style of apps sadly, I wish there were more options available that weren’t abandoned.
Thanks! Is there a way to send sms messages from my computer through their software like I can do with google messages?
Not directly, but you can use KDE Connect (Windows, Linux, and Mac are supported) to do it by pairing your phone and PC through it. It’s not as nice an experience as Google Messages on PC, but you can send, get notifications for, and reply to sms in your PC’s notifications after it’s set up
QKSMS is on Fdroid, and you can download the APKs on their GitHub as well.
What sort of features that you think you’ll be missing?
QKSM is dead
although sadly true, it still works quite reliably for me at least.
Project /e/OS (Custom Android Rom) maintains their own version built into the Rom. Funny how I didnt know this and when I downloaded QKSMS just now, I was like “This looks oddly familiar”
https://community.e.foundation/t/is-qksms-still-used-in-e-os/52655
What is broken that it needs to be updated to fix? I use it every day and it works fine.
A word of warning about replacing the default SMS app, some manufacturers tie the emergency alerts functionality to it, and if you select another app as the default (as Android insists you do for some reason) it’s possible you won’t get emergency alerts anymore.
Wow it may get rid of those annoying alerts too? Win-win!
Heh over here the alerts are about actual public danger (hurricanes, chemical spills, fires etc.) so you want to get them.
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I’ll forever be in mourning that Signal shot themselves in the foot and stopped functioning as an SMS app replacement
QKsms premium features are free if downloaded from f-droid.
I use “simple dialer” and “simple contacts”. “Simple” applications usually work well, and their pro versions are available for free on f-droid.
I use Silence.
Last update in 2019…
Yes, it hasn’t been updated for a long time, I don’t understand why, but it can encrypt messages, which is my favorite feature, so I use it all the time.
If all you want is encrypted SMS, switch to Partisan SMS (active fork of QKSMS). A 5 year out of date app is terribly insecure. Use Obtanium for automatic updates from the Github repo.
Signal is dropping SMS support so it wouldn’t do you any good regardless.
Frame challenge: to avoid mass surveillance, a good FLOSS E2EE app ✌️😎
